Silent Wednesday
Calendar of Christ 2023 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
The day before Jesus’s triumphal entry, many had come out to Bethany not only to see Jesus but also Lazarus whom He had raised from the dead a short time before (John 11; 12:1, 9).
The chief priests were already planning to kill Jesus. And because many Jews were believing in Jesus because of Lazarus, they were planning to kill him too (John 12:11).
The next day, Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem receiving the praise as King of the Jews.
That Monday He cursed a fig tree and cleansed the temple.
That Tuesday He returned to the fig tree, which was now withered, and taught His disciples about faith. He taught in the Temple and silenced the questions of His opponents with insightful questions of His own. He foretold the judgement that fall on Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and the judgment that will fall on the world at the end of time.
Then we come to Wednesday, which is sometimes called Silent Wednesday because we aren’t sure what events took place on Wednesday, so maybe it was just quiet the day before Holy Thursday.
Or perhaps it wasn’t…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
Perhaps Jesus continued to teach in the Temple complex on Silent Wednesday.
37 Now during the day He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the mount that is called Olivet. 38 And all the people would get up early in the morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him.
If Jesus taught in the Temple on this day, perhaps it was along the lines of what He taught on Tuesday. (Cook, William F., III. 2022. Jesus’s Final Week: From Triumphal Entry to Empty Tomb. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic.)
#1: There is no room for religious hypocrisy.
#2: No good deed done for God’s glory goes unnoticed.
#3: Jesus will certainly return.
Perhaps the Sanhedrin plotted to kill Jesus on Silent Wednesday.
3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; 4 and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him. 5 But they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people.”
1 Now the Passover and Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize Him by stealth and kill Him; 2 for they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise there might be a riot of the people.”
1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. 2 The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people.
Perhaps Judas made arrangement to betray Jesus on Silent Wednesday.
1 When Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, 2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion.” 3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; 4 and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him. 5 But they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people.” 6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table. 8 But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste? 9 “For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. 11 “For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. 12 “For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. 13 “Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.” 14 Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him. 16 From then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus.
Why did Judas decide to betray Jesus?
Perhaps he was disappointed with the Messiah.
Perhaps Judas was just greedy… and angry (John 12:4-8).
4 But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” 6 Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. 7 Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. 8 “For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.”
Judas was definitely filled by Satan (Luke 22:3).
1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. 2 The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people. 3 And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve. 4 And he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them. 5 They were glad and agreed to give him money. 6 So he consented, and began seeking a good opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the crowd.
God was definitely in control (Matt. 26:15; Zech. 11:12-13; John 17:12).
15 and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him.
12 I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord.
God commands Zechariah to put on a sort of prophetic drama in which Zechariah is the shepherd of a flock doomed to be slaughtered.
He has two staffs, one call Favor and the other called Union.
Then, because the shepherd’s patience has run out, he breaks his staff called Favor. The staff called Union will be broken later, but this flock will no longer be favored. It will be left unprotected.
Zechariah, the shepherd, then asks God’s people for his pay as their shepherd. They mockingly weigh out thirty shekels of silver as his wages.
God sarcastically calls that a “magnificent price” and tells Zechariah to throw it to the potter in the house of the Lord.
The potter (one who fashioned pots and other items out of clay) is used as a symbol for God who molds and shapes all things according to His will.
Throwing the thirty shekels of silver to the potter in the Temple represented the people of God saying to God Himself, “This is how much we think you’re molding and shaping is worth.”
When Judas received the 30 shekels from the religious leaders to betray Jesus, he later, in his guilt, threw the shekels into the Temple. They were then used to buy a potter’s field, a nearly worthless tract of land that would be used to bury unclaimed corpses (Matt. 27:7).
This is all that Jesus was worth in the eyes of these religious leaders—30 shekels of silver, the price of a slave that had been gored by an ox (Exod. 21:32).
Because they rejected their true Shepherd, God’s favor, i.e., His protection, would soon go away as well. In A.D. 70 Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed.
22 “For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!”
12 “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.
18 “I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ 19 “From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He.
What can we learn from Judas?
#1: Things like disappointment and greed can become toeholds for a larger work of Satan in our lives.
#2: Man is always responsible, and God is always in control.
#3: Even in the betrayal of Judas, Jesus proved that He is He!
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]